We are very appreciative of everyone here at GayAuthors that has stepped up and offered to help in some manner. One of our volunteers, K.C., did some interviews with AnytaSunday and Nephylim recently about publishing. Here is part one of his two part contribution.

You said you were going to do it! You swore you were going to do!

Even a few of your friends laughed at you, but you’ve finally did it, you finished that novel that’s been spinning around in your head for years. You put pen to paper, or more like pounded away at the keyboard until all the pieces came together. Countless hours of sweating and grunting…it was like you gave birth, which you kind of did (duck as the mommy’s of GA throw something heavy at our heads,) you created a story. It’s your masterpiece…but now what?

Unless you’re going to use it to prop up that wobbly leg on the coffee table, it’s not much use to write a story if nobody ever sees it.

Every writer dreams of being published. Before the digital age, the chances of getting published where the same as being struck by lightning (1 out of every 1,000,000 people annually, in case you didn’t know) except now, with eBooks and online writing forums you can get your story noticed, but is that the same as a published book?

Nowadays there’ more options in publication: traditional publication and self-publication. Here at Gay Authors we have quite a few authors choosing to pursue both of these options.

AnytaSunday and Nephylim are two well know authors here at GA and I had the pleasure of interviewing both these wonderful ladies to get their views on their publishing success.

AnytaSunday:

Your story ‘Veined’ was self-published in 2011, why did you choose to self-publish?
I chose to self-publish Veined because I felt I needed to take a risk. I've always dreamed of becoming an author for "real", and this was one way of getting there. Sure I tried the traditional route, but after hundreds upon hundreds of rejections, it can get more than a little depressing and draining. So I thought, well, it doesn't hurt. I could just see what happens to the story if I self-publish it. Certainly, I felt it better than letting it sit in my drawer and rot. Especially after writing and re-writing the story numerous times. So yeah, I owed it to myself and the story to give it a go.

What is the difference between self-publishing and traditional publishing?
Probably more than I could tell you, but some difference are: With self-publishing, you are a ONE-MAN show. You have to be not only the writer, but your own editor (or you need to be able to afford an editor as well as having friends to beta for you), cover design artist (unless you're like me and have someone who can do this for you, or you choose to pay a professional to design it for you), promotions manager and advertising exec etc. This is both good and bad. The good is you have a lot more say in things, the bad is that it's so easy to over-look things. Typos, grammar, spelling--you might have looked over your story a hundred times, but as one person, you become blind to your own work--you read what you EXPECT to be there and not necessarily what is. And if you can afford a professional editor, it's the way to go--but when you don't know if the book will earn you any money at all, it's a risk--an expensive one.

Traditional publishing: Not always but quite often, authors have agents who do a lot of work for them. The agents offer advice on where to strengthen the book, and they are very familiar with the publishing world, so they know what sells and how to make your work more attractive to readers. They also know what editors and publishing houses are looking for and will try selling your book to the publishers for you. If your work gets picked up traditionally, there will be an editor assigned to your book and possibly a few more re-writes in places might be needed, but once you've sent that final version off (and your agent or you have dealt with the contract and royalties etc.) then the publishing house takes over a lot of the work for promoting and advertising the book--something which is hard to do as a self-published author--again as advertising and promoting costs money.

How does it feel seeing your book and knowing that it’s something you created is being read by people all over the world?
Yeah, that's pretty darn cool.

Will you consider self-publishing again for your next story?
I'd love to be published traditionally at some stage, but for the moment I feel self-pubbing is worth exploring. But ask me again in a year or so--I may have a different opinion then.

Do you have any words of advice to any new writers starting to venture into the world of publishing?
Yeah, with lots of different people and personalities reading your work, you have to learn how to accept that your baby isn't the sweetest wee thing for everyone, in fact there will always be people who think it's ugly--so you have to get used to the fact you will never be able to please everyone. So write what you love to write and what you'd love to read yourself.

Next week, we will look at Part 2: Nephylim's Interview